It takes a lot of work to keep your house in good condition. Everyday wear and tear can lead to little problems, and if those little problems are not addressed in a timely manner they can turn into much bigger problems - especially if rodents get involved. For instance, a water leak may not seem like a major issue at first, but if left unfixed, it can lead to damaged wood, mold, and other problems. Another problem that should be addressed as early as possible is a pest infestation. There are many pests that can get into Maryland homes and each causes its own set of problems. One of the worst offenders is the little, furry house mouse. While these cute little critters may not seem like they could cause any harm, the truth is that a mouse infestation requires immediate action if you want to avoid serious problems down the road. If you suspect you might have a mouse infestation, learning the trick to total mouse control for your Maryland home will help. In this guide, we’ll take a look at mice and other common rodents threatening Maryland homes, the many problems mice bring with them, why preventing and eliminating mice inside the home is such a difficult task, and what Maryland homeowners can ultimately do to keep their homes mouse-free. The Most Common Rodents To Infest Maryland HomesMaryland is home to many rodents, including mice, rats, squirrels, groundhogs, and more. However, although there are many species of rodents in our state, not all of them are problems for homeowners. The fact is that only a few of these animals regularly infest buildings, and of those few, mice and rats are the two that are most commonly found in Maryland houses, with mice taking the number one spot. Although no one wants either of these rodents getting into their house, the good news is that it’s unlikely that you’ll ever have both a mouse infestation and a rat infestation at the same time. Both of these animals live in colonies that are built upon social hierarchies. When a colony of one rodent species claims its territory, they will be friendly with the other rodents within their colony, but aggressive towards strangers. That means that two colonies are extremely unlikely to cohabitate within the same space. Understanding a little bit about the rodents that are likely to infest your home can be helpful in catching an infestation as early as possible. Knowing how they get inside, where they’re likely to spend their time in your home, and what signs they leave of their presence are all important pieces of information. If you know these signs, you can be on the lookout for them in order to discover and eliminate an infestation as quickly as possible. There are two types of rats that are likely to get into your house. Roof rats are excellent climbers, and tend to nest in the upper levels of homes, especially in the attic. Norway rats tend to nest in the lower levels of homes, especially in the basement. House mice can be found in any area of the home, but like rats, prefer secluded areas where they can hide and create nests. They are often found in attics and wall voids. All of these rodents gain access to your home through small entry points outside. Uncovered vents, gaps around your windows or doors, and holes in your siding can all be utilized to get into your house. Even a hole that is too small for a rat or mouse to squeeze through can be chewed away by their powerful incisors until it’s large enough to fit through. Since rats can fit through a hole the size of a nickel and mice can fit through a hole the size of a dime, it doesn’t take long for a rodent to make a hole that’s big enough to fit through to get into your house. Once inside your house, rats and mice will try to stay out of sight as much as possible, but that doesn’t mean they won’t leave any signs of their presence. You may hear scratching sounds in the walls or ceilings, find droppings on your countertops or in your cabinets or drawers, notice gnaw marks or holes chewed in pantry items, or find greasy rub marks along your walls. Although any home can become victim to a rat or mouse infestation, rats tend to be more prolific in urban areas, while mice are more likely to invade rural and suburban locations. Even so, any home can become infested with mice or rats, regardless of where it is located. New infestations usually occur in the fall and winter when rodents are in need of warm shelter and a steady supply of food and water. The Trouble With Having Mice In Your Maryland HomeHaving mice in your house is something no one wants to deal with, but when you learn how many problems mice are responsible for, it becomes even more apparent why a mouse infestation can cause serious trouble for Maryland homeowners and should be dealt with as quickly as possible. First, mice are dangerous to your health. They carry diseases that they can easily spread around your house. When they crawl across your countertops, into your food stores, and over your food prep areas, they can spread contaminates directly off their bodies as well as through their droppings. Mice are responsible for spreading salmonella, rat bite fever, and more through contaminating surfaces. You can also contract illnesses through direct contact with a mouse if you have the misfortune of being bitten or scratched by one. Furthermore, mouse urine can cause allergies in children, and when particles from dried mouse droppings get into the air, they can cause allergies and asthma symptoms in both children and adults. In addition to the direct health problems they can cause, mice are also responsible for bringing other harmful pests into your home. Mites, fleas, lice, and ticks are commonly found on mice. When they get into your house, these parasites can drop off the mice and find their way to your family members and pets. Each of these pests causes their own set of health problems that you don’t want to deal with. Dangers to your health aren’t the only trouble mice cause when they get into your Maryland home. They also are extremely destructive pests. Mice are powerful chewers, and once inside your house, they will gnaw on almost anything. In addition to getting into food stores by chewing through boxes and contaminating the food inside, mice will chew through boxes in storage and damage the goods inside. That’s not where it ends though. When mice get into homes, they chew holes through drywall, tear into pieces of insulation, and chew through wiring and piping. This damage is not only costly to repair, but can also be dangerous, leading to fire hazards, water leaks, mold problems, and more. The Trouble With Getting Mice Out Of Your Maryland HomeIf you could spot a mouse as soon as it entered your home, catch the offending rodent, and be done with it, having mice get into your Maryland home wouldn’t be such a big deal. Unfortunately, that’s rarely how things work in real life. The trouble with getting mice out of your Maryland home has several components. First, most people don’t notice a mouse infestation right away. If one mouse gets into your house, you won’t see it immediately and it probably won’t make enough noise or other signs of its presence known right away. Instead, the infestation will begin to grow so that by the time it becomes noticeable, you don’t have just one single mouse in your house anymore,but many. How fast can a mouse infestation grow? You might be surprised to learn the answer. One female mouse can give birth every three weeks and the average litter has around six pups in it. A female pup reaches sexual maturity in as little as four weeks, but usually between six and eight weeks of age. Depending on the number of females born in each litter, with these facts in mind it becomes easy to see how quickly a mouse infestation can grow. A mouse population does not simply multiply; it grows exponentially. Even if you discover an infestation in its early stages, it’s still difficult to eliminate every mouse from your house. Setting traps will likely be met with a bit of success, but not enough to fully eliminate the problem. Mice are both smart and cautious, and it’s nearly impossible to fully eliminate an infestation by setting traps alone. Not only do mice have quick reflexes that can allow them avoid the trap while still taking the bait, but if they suspect any danger or smell a former occupant in the trap, they will keep their distance. Furthermore, in order for traps to be successful, you need to understand the habits of mice and where the best locations are to set the traps in the first place - which many homeowners will not be aware of. Another problem with getting rid of mice from your house is that they are excellent at hiding. Mice don’t build their nests in easy-to-reach locations. Sometimes you can find them in your basement, but they’re far more likely to be tucked away in your attic or even within your walls. Just getting to the source of the problem can be difficult without the proper training and equipment, and no one wants to have to break into their walls to remove a mouse infestation. Even if you find where they’re nesting, as soon as mice sense your presence, they’ll slip away through tiny holes and other openings they find, making it very difficult to eliminate them. The Trick To Total Mouse Control For Your Maryland HomeIf you have a mouse infestation, you need the trick to total mouse control for your Maryland home. The best part of this trick is how simple it is. All it requires of you is to pick up the phone and call American Pest. By contacting Maryland’s leaders in the pest control industry, you won’t have to worry for one more day about fully eliminating your mouse infestation. American Pest has been in business for nearly 100 years, and in that time, we’ve developed the most advanced, effective methods of dealing with rodent infestations on the market. Through a five-step program that we’ve developed and improved over time, we determine where the mice are harboring then seal off their entry points, get rid of the mice in your house, reduce the mouse population outside of your house, and provide follow-up services to keep your home mouse-free in the months and years to come. The trick to total mouse control is simple: Trust the professionals to do the job for which they’re trained. If mice have gotten into your Maryland home, don’t delay. Contact American Pest and let us handle your mouse problem with the efficiency and effectiveness we’ve come to be known for. via American Pest Blog https://ift.tt/3lsdtPO
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You must be logged into the site to view this content. via Terminix® Service, Inc. | #1 in Pest Control & Termite Treatment | TrustTerminix.com https://ift.tt/2JzwFwJ The vast majority of people would agree with the statement that five billion dollars is a lot of money. When you learn that it’s also the dollar amount of damage that termites cause to structures in the United States each and every year, it becomes very clear just how problematic termites can be. Termites may be small, but they are extremely destructive. A termite infestation in your home can not only cause costly damage, but also threaten the safety of your family by eroding your home’s structural fortitude. Thankfully, effective termite control for your Maryland home is possible when you understand termites and termite behavior and know what to do to prevent these wood-destroying insects from getting into your house. If you want to protect your home from termites, you need the Maryland homeowners’ complete guide to effective termite control. What Are Termites?Termites are small, ground-dwelling insects that live in a well-established caste system within their colonies. Each colony is made up of a king and queen, alates (or reproductive termites), soldiers, and workers. Each caste performs a vital role within the colony, and termites develop into one of these castes upon reaching maturity based on pheromones released by the queen. The queen is the largest member of the colony and her sole job is to reproduce with the much smaller king. The alates are the other reproductive members of the colony, but they don’t typically take part in reproduction efforts in an already-established colony. Instead, they grow to maturity, then leave the colony in a large swarm to find mates and become the queen and king of their own new colonies. After the queen, the alates are the largest termites in the colony, growing up to half an inch in length. They have darker bodies than the other termites and also have a set of wings that they discard after finding a mate. Their appearance is very similar to that of ants and they are commonly mistaken for carpenter ants. Soldier termites are smaller than alates and have a milky-white body with a slightly darker head. They can be distinguished by their large jaws. A soldier termite’s job is to protect the colony, and especially to protect the queen. They are typically stationed at the entrance and exit of the nesting area to stop any would be intruders. The worker termites are the most plentiful members of the caste system. Similar in size to the soldiers, but with smaller heads, worker termites are also milky-white in color. Arguably the busiest members of the colony, worker termites hold many jobs. They are responsible for gathering food for all other members of the colony, taking care of the young, building the tunnels and nests, and maintaining the tunnels and nests. Although a termite colony can grow into the hundreds of thousands of members, and in some cases into the millions, it’s quite rare for Maryland homeowners to ever see termites with their own eyes. Most termites in the colony can’t come out in the open. The sun and air dry them out, so they spend their time hidden underground or within the walls of your home where it’s dark and moist. While the reproductive termites come out in a large group to mate, this usually only happens in the spring and is typically the only time you’ll see termites without purposely looking for them. The Damage Termites CauseKnowing that you’ll probably never see a termite may make you think that they’re not that big of a problem. If they’ll never invade the inner parts of your home, you won’t have to worry about them biting you, contaminating your food stores, or causing illnesses in your family members like so many other pests are known to do. This is true. Termites are not known to bite, get into your food, or spread diseases. However, that doesn’t make them harmless. The fact is that termites are one of the most dangerous pests to get in your house. Although they may not be a direct danger to your health, they can cause extreme damage to your house. The reason is simple: Termites eat wood. More specifically, they eat the cellulose in wood, but to do so, they chew tunnels through any wood they find. This serves to not only provide food for the colony, but also to provide a home. Tunneling systems and nesting areas may start small, but they grow over time to accommodate the growing colony. While this may be helpful to the termites, it’s terrible for your house. The longer a termite colony is allowed to operate within or near your house, the larger it will grow and the more tunnels they will create. Over time, this weakens the wooden structures in your home. If termites were simply living in your favorite rocking chair, you’d probably consider it a loss, but not a major one. However, since they typically live within your walls, they’ll weaken the structural supports of your home, eventually making your house unstable and a dangerous place to live. Even if you catch the infestation sooner rather than later, termite damage is costly to repair. Plus, since the damage is almost exclusively out of sight, repairing it usually requires tearing down sheet rock and doing other things that make it worse before it gets better. How To Make Your Maryland Home Less Accessible To TermitesUnderstanding what termites are attracted to is helpful because it allows you to reduce those factors around your Maryland home. Although reducing attractants is not a guarantee that you will avoid a termite infestation, it certainly won’t hurt. By making your home less accessible to termites, you can help decrease your chances of ending up with a termite infestation. Reduce Or Eliminate Moisture IssuesYou already know that termites eat wood, but it’s also helpful to understand that they prefer wood that is rotting or water-damaged. Although they can and do eat through structurally-sound dry wood, termites are much more likely to first infest wood that is damp or water-damaged. Because of this, you can reduce a termite attractant by eliminating any moisture issues you have on your property. Although not all moisture problems result in water-damaged wood, many do. Eliminating moisture issues is also a wise idea because it prevents other pest problems as well. To eliminate moisture problems in your house and on your property, you must first perform regular inspections. Inside, look for drippy faucets. Check under sinks for leaking pipes. Inspect the basement for leaking pipes. Pay attention to rooms that tend to be humid or retain more moisture than normal, like bathrooms and basements. Outside, pay attention to where rainwater drains or collects. Look for excessively shaded areas and check the ground under these areas to see how damp they are. Check your gutters to ensure they aren’t clogged and that your drains are diverting water away from your home’s foundations. Look all around your foundation for any areas where water pools or under your crawl space for moisture build-up. If you find any issues during your inspection, take steps to repair or eliminate those issues right away. Fix drippy faucets and leaking pipes, and reduce humidity through the use of dehumidifiers and good ventilation. Create drainage systems outside that lead away from your house, cut back foliage that is creating too much shade, unclog jammed gutters, and consider sealing your crawl space. Properly Store WoodIf you use firewood, either for an indoor or outdoor fireplace, it’s important that it is properly stored in order to deter termites. Left out in the open, firewood will get wet and offer easy access to termites. Although it may not seem like a big deal for termites to get into a wood pile that’s not in your house, even having a termite colony on your property is bad news. Eventually they’ll either find their way into your house, or when the reproductives come out, one of the new king and queen pairs will enter your house to start their new colony. Storing firewood a good distance from your house is a must, as is storing it up off the ground and in a dry location. Ideally, the wood will be placed inside a building or at the least, fully covered so that it won’t get wet. Eliminate Wood-to-Soil ContactIn addition to not placing firewood directly on the ground, you’ll also want to avoid any other areas of direct wood to soil contact. When wood comes in direct contact with the dirt, it allows termites immediate access to the wood. Since termites can’t come out in the open, if they have to cross a barrier they can’t get past without leaving the ground, they’ll build a mud tube to crawl through. Mud tubes can most often be seen on the outside and inside walls of a home’s foundation and are an indication of a termite infestation. However, if areas around your house have direct wood-to-soil contact, termites won’t have to risk building a mud tube. Instead, they’ll gain access to the wood they need to survive without any trouble at all. Not only does this make it easy for termites to get into your house, but it also eliminates another indication of their presence that you might have otherwise noticed. Common areas around Maryland homes where there is often direct wood to soil contact include fence posts, deck and porch posts, wood siding, mulch, lattice work, and door frames. Clean Up DebrisIt stands to reason that if you store firewood properly and eliminate direct wood-to-soil contact, you’ll also want to clear wood debris off your property. Dead trees, fallen limbs, and other debris are a termite infestation waiting to happen. By regularly removing debris, you can help avoid having termites come onto your property. If you can avoid having termites on your property, you can help avoid a termite infestation in your house. The Best Way To Protect Your Maryland Home From TermitesDespite your best efforts at reducing attractants and making your Maryland home less accessible to termites, there’s still a chance that they’ll get inside. While taking preventative measures can help, it doesn’t provide the protection that a comprehensive termite control program does. The best way to protect your Maryland home from termites is to get the non-stop protection of a termite control program from American Pest. With several options to meet your needs and budget, our termite control services not only eliminate active infestations, but also prevent new infestations from occurring. From inspection to monitoring to elimination, when you choose termite control from American Pest, you’ll receive unparalleled service that is backed by our Pest Free Pledge Guarantee. Don’t let the worry of a termite infestation create undue stress. Instead, let American Pest fully protect your home from termites and the damage they cause. Contact us to schedule a termite inspection today. via American Pest Blog https://ift.tt/3mRYXRy You must be logged into the site to view this content. via Terminix® Service, Inc. | #1 in Pest Control & Termite Treatment | TrustTerminix.com https://ift.tt/3e9wtQ0 Summer is a wonderful time of year, but it’s also the time of year when ants proliferate. From seeing them on your driveway to finding their hills in your flowerbeds, you probably don’t give too much thought to ants until they start showing up everywhere inside your Columbia house. The problem with ants is two-fold. First, there are many different species of ants that can invade your home which makes it difficult to know which ones are dangerous. Second, it can be extremely difficult to get rid of an ant infestation once you end up with one. Prevention is key, so American Pest has put together 26 easy tricks to keep ants out of your Columbia home, as well as one easy trick to get rid of ants if they find a way to invade. The Ants That Are Common Problems In Columbia HomesWith so many different ant species, it’s important to know a little bit about the types that are most likely to invade your Columbia home. The following six species of ants are the ones that you might find in your house this year. Pavement AntsPavement ants are the type of ant that most people are accustomed to seeing. They roam around on your driveway and build their nests in or under the cracks in the pavement. Sometimes though, they find their way inside. You may end up with pavement ants coming and going inside your house, or they may build their nests in your walls or under your floors. Pavement ants are dark brown to black in color. They grow to about an eighth of an inch in length. Like all ants, they have six legs, segmented bodies, and elbowed antennae. Pavement ants will eat almost anything. From honeydew to nuts to meat to other insects, they are foragers with a wide variety of tastes. Although they are considered a nuisance pest when they get into houses, pavement ants can contaminate food and are a pest you do not want in your Columbia home. Field AntsField ants tend to be larger than pavement ants, and because of their size, they are sometimes confused with carpenter ants. They range in color from yellow to red to brown to black and are sometimes called red ants. Field ants prefer to nest outdoors and typically do so in fields, lawns, gardens, and similar areas. They excavate the dirt out of the ground into a mound, which sometimes causes them to be confused with fire ants in parts of the country where fire ants are common. Field ants prefer sweet foods and often get inside Columbia homes while they search for food. Although they are not dangerous, they do bite if provoked, and these bites can be painful. However, they do not cause any serious long term problems. Acrobat AntsAcrobat ants get their name because they can lift their back end up over their heads like they’re doing a handstand. They typically exhibit this behavior when they’ve been disturbed. These ants are about the same size as pavement ants. They are light brown to black in color and sometimes have a mix of colors. Acrobat ants nest under rocks or in areas with trees, logs, or firewood where wood rot has set in. Therefore, they can easily set tunnels to navigate their colony. They eat sweet foods and meats and often get into homes in search of food. They often get inside by making trails along tree branches that come in contact with your house, but they can also make their way inside on wires or pipes that allow them into the walls. Once inside, they’ll nest in wall voids or areas with water-damaged wood. Although they can bite, acrobat ants pose no real threat to humans. They are considered a nuisance ant, but they can cause some damage to your home and are best avoided. Odorous House AntsOdorous house ants are small, growing no longer than an eighth of an inch. They are dark in color varying from brown to black. When nesting outdoors, odorous house ants tend to live under piles of firewood or in exposed soil. However, as their name indicates, they also enjoy nesting inside. If they get into your house, they prefer to live in moist areas or near water sources, such as near leaking water pipes. Odorous house ants prefer sweet foods. They are considered a nuisance pest. However, they will contaminate your food, and they give off a rotten odor when crushed. Pharaoh AntsPharaoh ants are extremely small, growing to only about 1/16th of an inch. They are typically yellow in color with a darker abdomen. When outside, Pharaoh ants typically nest in shaded areas or under debris. However, they cannot survive outside through the colder winter months in Baltimore, which is why they’re often found indoors. They tend to get inside by crawling along electrical wires, and they nest in areas that are inaccessible to humans, such as in wall voids and under floors. Pharaoh ants have varied diets. They enjoy sweet foods, oily foods, and protein-based foods. Unlike most species of ants, Pharaoh ants are not simply a nuisance. They are known to spread over a dozen dangerous pathogens that can cause serious illnesses. Carpenter AntsCarpenter ants are large ants that grow to over half an inch in length. They can be red, black, or a combination of the two colors. When outdoors, carpenter ants live in stumps, dead trees, firewood, or other wood sources. They require a constant water source in order to survive. They frequently enter houses through water-damaged wood, but can also get inside through cracks or other small openings. Carpenter ants eat sweet foods, but will also eat other insects. Once inside, they’ll eat almost any food they can find in your house. Carpenter ants are dangerous ants because of the damage they cause. Although they don’t eat wood, they do chew tunnels through wood while building their nests. If enough damage is done inside the wooden elements of your home, carpenter ants can weaken the structural integrity of your house. Easy Tricks To Reduce Ant Attractants Inside Your Columbia HomeAlthough carpenter ants and Pharaoh ants are the two main types of ants that are a serious cause for concern if they get into your Columbia home, the fact of the matter is that you really don’t want any of these ants in your house. Even nuisance ants will contaminate food and drive you crazy as you attempt to get rid of them. Keeping ants out of your Columbia house starts with reducing attractants inside your home. The following tips will help make your house less attractive to ants, making them less likely to want to move in:
Easy Tricks To Reduce Ant Attractants Outside Your Columbia HomeIn addition to making the inside of your house less attractive to ants, there are also easy tricks you can perform to make the exterior of your house and your property less conducive to ant activity. By combining these tips with the tips above, you’ll go a long way in protecting your house from an ant infestation:
The Easiest Trick To Eliminate An Active Ant Infestation In Your Columbia HomeSometimes, even when you take all the right steps to prevent an ant infestation, you still end up with one. If you have been finding ants inside your house, you need to know the easiest trick to eliminate them. The easiest and most effective way to eliminate an active ant infestation from your Columbia home is to call the professionals at American Pest. At American Pest, we use a four-part system to eliminate your ant problem and make sure it doesn’t return. First, we identify the type of ant that has gotten into your Columbia home. As experts in ant biology, we understand that different ant species require different types of treatments to effectively eliminate them. By identifying the type of ant in your house, we can determine the best method for effective treatment. Next, we’ll locate indoor and outdoor nesting sites. Your ant problem will not go away unless the problem is eliminated at the source. Therefore, targeting our treatments to eliminate the nests will do away with the entire ant colony. Third, we’ll treat around your foundation and other areas that are common entry points for ants and common areas where they choose to nest. Finally, we’ll provide ongoing control to prevent a future infestation. When you have an ant problem, contacting American Pest is not only the easiest thing to do, it’s also the most effective. Don’t waste time playing around with DIY ant control treatments. Find the source of the problem and eliminate it for good with the help of American Pest. Learn more about our home pest control and commercial pest control options. via American Pest Blog https://ift.tt/35OpUP9 You must be logged into the site to view this content. via Terminix® Service, Inc. | #1 in Pest Control & Termite Treatment | TrustTerminix.com https://ift.tt/2HBT3oR You must be logged into the site to view this content. via Terminix® Service, Inc. | #1 in Pest Control & Termite Treatment | TrustTerminix.com https://ift.tt/3oCrM6n You must be logged into the site to view this content. via Terminix® Service, Inc. | #1 in Pest Control & Termite Treatment | TrustTerminix.com https://ift.tt/2FQA8FL You must be logged into the site to view this content. via Terminix® Service, Inc. | #1 in Pest Control & Termite Treatment | TrustTerminix.com https://ift.tt/3dJ6U8q Thirty years ago, you didn’t hear much, if anything, about ticks. Kids went about their springs, summers, and falls dashing through the woods and jumping in leaf piles with nary a worry. Unfortunately, when it comes to ticks, a lot has changed in the past three decades. Tick populations seem to grow with every passing year and so too does the threat of contracting a tick-borne disease. If you want to learn more about ticks, the threats they cause, and how to maintain effective tick control around your Baltimore home, look no further than our complete guide. Here you’ll find all the information you need to protect yourself and your family from these harmful pests. What Are Ticks?Ticks are small, parasitic pests. As part of the arachnid family, they have four sets of paired, jointed legs and lack the antennae you find on insects. There are 90 different species of ticks found in the US, but far fewer are common in Baltimore. The six that you are most likely to encounter in Maryland are the blacklegged deer tick, American dog tick, brown dog tick, Lone Star tick, Gulf Coast tick, and Asian longhorned tick. While all ticks are similar in appearance, they do have some small differences that help differentiate them from one another. Their similarities are in their flat, oval-shaped bodies that swell when engorged after a feeding, their legs, and their segmented bodies. Their main differences are in their size and coloring:
The tick life cycle can vary in length depending on the species of tick, ranging from a few months to up to two or three years. However, all tick species follow the same four stages of development. Ticks begin as eggs that then hatch into six-legged larvae. After the larval stage, ticks become eight-legged nymphs. The final stage is the adult stage. Each stage of development requires that the tick have a blood meal to survive and move onto the next stage. Adult females require a blood meal before being able to lay eggs. To complete a blood meal, ticks go through a process that takes several days. It can take anywhere from ten minutes to a few hours for a tick to prepare to eat. It cuts into the skin of its host and inserts a feeding tube inside. The saliva of ticks has anesthetic properties that can stop the host from feeling the intrusion, and since ticks often find a sheltered area in which to feed, a tick can go unnoticed the entire time they are attached to the host. It can take several days for a tick to complete a meal as it slowly feeds before removing its feeding tube and dropping off the host. Are Ticks Dangerous?As parasitic pests, ticks require a host to supply them with the blood meal they need to survive. Most ticks choose different types of hosts in each stage of development and will feed on mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Ticks become dangerous when they pick up diseases during their feedings. For instance, if a tick feeds on an infected mouse during the larval stage, then attaches itself to a human for a blood meal during the nymph stage, it can transmit that disease to the human host through infected saliva. Ticks are known to spread many serious, chronic, and sometimes fatal illnesses. The types of diseases you can get from a tick vary with the type of tick, but include all of the following:
Many of these illnesses are difficult to diagnose because of their general flu-like symptoms in the early stages. If you did not see a tick on you, you may not suspect a tick-borne illness and assume you’ve just caught a short-term virus. However, if not treated, some of these illnesses can cause a variety of serious long term problems. In extreme cases, they can even lead to death. What Can You Do To Avoid Ticks While Outside?Because ticks can easily get on a host without being noticed, it’s imperative that you take steps to avoid getting ticks on you any time you go outdoors. Taking preventative measures is the best way to avoid a tick-borne illness. If a tick doesn’t have a chance to embed itself into your skin, it won’t be able to transmit a disease to you. One way to reduce your risk of getting a tick on you is to keep as much skin covered as possible. Wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts. Tuck your shirt into your pants and your pants into your socks to close any gaps between articles of clothing where ticks could sneak underneath and onto your skin. Wearing light-colored clothes can help you easily identify when a tick gets on you, allowing you to remove it before it has a chance to bite you. In Baltimore's heat, wearing full-length clothing isn’t always practical. In these instances, it’s smart to use an insect repellent that contains DEET, permethrin, or picaridin. If you don’t want to spray it directly on your skin, spray it on your clothing and shoes. Avoiding outdoor areas where ticks are most likely to be is a smart way to avoid ticks while enjoying the great outdoors. Areas that commonly have a lot of tick activity include wooded areas, areas with tall grass, and areas with a lot of leaf litter. Finally, it’s important to check yourself over for ticks every time you go outside. Carefully inspect your body for even the smallest dark spots, as ticks in the larval and nymph stage can be extremely tiny. Ticks tend to prefer warm, moist areas, such as the armpits, but they are also often found behind the ears or on the scalp. In all reality, though they have their preferences, ticks will latch onto any part of the body. How Can You Reduce The Risk Of A Tick Problem On Your Own Property?While knowing some preventative measures to take when you’re going outdoors is helpful, if you have a tick problem on your own property, you’re going to have reason to be concerned every time you step outside. Knowing how to reduce the risk of a tick problem on your Baltimore property is important for your health and your peace of mind.First, knowing where ticks tend to spend their time when they’re on the ground can help you reduce these types of areas on your property. When ticks are found on people’s property, it’s usually in the transitional zone between their yard and the woods or fields beyond. By separating these areas with stones or even a fence, you can help prevent ticks from entering your lawn. Ticks also tend to spend time in tall grass and leaf litter. Make sure to keep your lawn trimmed, and clean up any debris that collects there regularly. If you’re serious about keeping ticks off your Baltimore property, you’re going to want to keep away the animals that carry the ticks to your property. Although ticks are fairly fast walkers, they’re not going to travel miles and miles to get to your house. Instead, the way that most ticks end up on your property is by riding in on their hosts, then dropping off them onto your lawn or in the woods nearby. To keep these ticks away, you need to make your property unappealing to wildlife:
What Is The Best Way To Get Effective Tick Control On Your Baltimore Property?While all of the tips mentioned above can help in your fight against ticks, the most effective way to keep ticks under control is to enlist help from the professionals. At American Pest, our service professionals are specially-trained in the biology and habits of ticks. When you choose us to help you, we’ll combine our knowledge with a thorough inspection of your property. This helps us identify where ticks are harboring to provide you with a tick control plan designed with your Baltimore property in mind. With ongoing tick treatments, you can rest assured that any tick problem around your property is under control all season long. The serious threat of illness caused by ticks is not a matter to take lightly, and with American Pest, you don’t have to worry. For advice about pest control in Baltimore, or to schedule a treatment, contact us today. via American Pest Blog https://ift.tt/3jiNW9E |